Premier Cricket: Victoria bowler Jackson Coleman signs at Footscray
With Jake Reed set to miss next season, Footscray has wasted no time bolstering its bowling stocks for the 2020-21 Premier Cricket campaign.
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Footscray will turn to Jackson Coleman to spearhead its bowling attack next summer after securing the services of the Melbourne Stars paceman.
With Jake Reed set to be on the sidelines for all of next season after a knee reconstruction, the 28-year-old will be an important addition for the Premier Cricket outfit.
Coleman snared 16 wickets at 19.4 from eight Premier Cricket matches for Melbourne in 2019-20.
He also played five games for Victoria in last year’s domestic one-day competition, collecting nine wickets, including a haul of 4.46 against Tasmania.
Coleman returned figures of 3-16 in his only Big Bash League outing for the Stars against Perth Scorchers in January, while his sole Sheffield Shield appearance for his state came in October, 2018.
“He brings a really good energy, is competitive and obviously bowls left arm, which is a point of difference with our attack for most of the year being right armers,” Footscray coach Allan Wise said.
“His ability to bowl at different times of the game – he’s really good with the old ball, good in the white-ball stuff and he’s really keen to continue to work on his new ball bowling, and hopefully that’s something our coaching panel can work strongly with him on.
“He brings a really diverse skill-set with the ball, and that’s testament to his white-ball record, where he’s played for Victoria and the Stars.
“We’re really excited to see his bag of tricks and he’ll be a really good guiding force for our younger bowlers.”
Reed was restricted to four games last season, leaving the heavy lifting to the likes of Hamish Winter-Irving, Jonah Koch and Jordan Buckingham.
Wise said the Dogs lacked firepower at times when Reed was absent.
“We had our moments through the year,” he said.
“We had some good games, but there were games where the (pitch) conditions were a little bit flatter, and the (qualifying) final we played was a good example of that, where we struggled to penetrate (against Melbourne).
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“Jacko is a more than capable replacement (for Reed). We were very mindful with the emergence of Jordan Buckingham and our existing bowlers to make sure we’ve got that mature bowler with first-class and experience at a higher level.
“Jacko was really keen and we thought we were a good fit for him.”
Wise described the season as a “pleasing step in the right direction”.
Footscray’s First XI finished the home-and-away rounds in second spot after ending the previous season in 16th position, while all four teams qualified for finals.
The Dogs were on the receiving end of a nine-wicket hammering from Melbourne in the opening week of finals before the coronavirus crisis forced the season to be abandoned.